Penn at the Getty

Hi All,
I finally made it to see Irving Penn's exhibition, Small Trades, at the Getty. I enjoyed it so much I returned three days later to see it again. Before the exhibition if you were to ask me who are the ten photographers who most inspire and influence me, I might have neglected to include Penn on that list. Now, he is at the top. I was always aware and appreciative of his artistry and technical capabilities, yet after seeing this particular project I understood that he was also a sociologist. What struck me most, beyond his gorgeous Platinum/Palladium prints, which by the way were gotten by the process of creating an inter-negative, a long and tedious endeavor, was the dignity and pride of the workers who sat for his portraits. From the street sweeper to the firemen, it was extremely apparent that all these laymen and a few laywomen took great pride in their vocation. In fact, standing on the canvas that Penn had hung in each of his Paris, London, and New York studios his sitters completely transformed into the person of their métier, and Penn captured that.

I could not help but compare the workers in these portraits to what has become of America's working class today. Automation, the loss of manufacturing jobs to overseas laborers who do the same work for a twentieth of the wage, the conversion of a work force from one which makes things to one that services others, and the obsession, a malaise that has placed a stranglehold on our culture, of wanting to be rich and famous above all else has led in my opinion to, in part, a culture which abstains from being prideful in what they do and a job well-done.

Penn was aware that many of the trades that his sitters so proudly emoted were nearing extinction. Penn not only so beautifully captured the essence of these workers, he also captured an era gone not to be witnessed again except at his exhibitions.